How to Say Teacher in Korean

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In Korea, it is not polite to address a teacher by their name. So for example in this west, we might call a teacher Ms. or Mrs. Johnson/Mr. Johnson, but in Korea, the teacher will literally just be called teacher by the students.

So if a student raises their hand to ask a question, they would start of with “선생님…”. This is really no different than other parts of Korean culture and language because most people in the workplace are addressed with a certain title, not by the person’s name.

As written in the graphic, 선생님 is the most common and formal way of saying teacher in Korean. For a more casual/informal way to call a teacher, students might use “샘/쌤”. This is often used by students who are really comfortable and have a good relationship with their teacher.